Les Choralies Edmonton 2012 - International French Choral Festival

APRIL 23, 2012 IS THE LAST DAY 
TO REGISTER FOR WORKSHOPS!

Come and celebrate this exciting cultural opportunity with us!

This summer will see something particularly special for Edmonton’s choral community. Les Choralies Edmonton 2012 is an opportunity for French-speaking choristers to participate in a weeklong choral festival in Edmonton from Sunday, July 8th to Sunday, July15th.

Participants from Québec, France, Africa and all over Canada will take part in workshops and concerts making this an exciting cultural experience. And you don’t need to belong to a choir to participate (although some choral experience is a plus) – register as an individual and meet up with choristers from all over la Francophonie!

In celebration of its 75th anniversary, Chorale Saint-Jean will be hosting this event along with two other major partners: Campus Saint-Jean, of the University of Alberta, and the Quebec Choral Federation (l’Alliance des chorales du Québec). This is a rare opportunity for French-speaking choristers to meet in Western Canada, as an event such as this was last held in Edmonton in 1973.

ATELIERS (Workshops)

Throughout the week, participants get to choose either a 6-day workshop of a major French-Canadian work, Elles s’appelaient Marie by Alberta's own France Levasseur-Ouimet OR La Grand-Messe by Québec composer Gilles Vigneault.

Participants can also choose two consecutive 3-day workshops: Musique de l'Acadie et de l'Ouest OR Musique traditionelle de l'Afrique. (Edmonton’s own Scott Leithead holds will lead this workshop in English) AND Les chansons des Roses by Morten Lauridsen (this will be a bilingual workshop) OR Les grands chansonniers français. These break-out choirs will rehearse the chosen works from 9:00 until 12:00 every morning for presentation in concert at the end of the week.

MASSED CHOIR

One of the major highlights of this festival will be the daily rehearsals of the Massed Choir where a variety of beautiful repertoire will be sung, from classical pieces with organ to Negro Spirituals to beautiful arrangements of French Chansons. This will culminate in an exciting closing concert performed by the Massed Choir at the beautiful Winspear Centre for Music on Sunday, July 15th.

CONCERTS and MORE

The program includes 3 major concerts at the Winspear Centre for Music: the opening concert on Sunday, July 8th, When east meets west, the Gala concert on Friday, July 13th When classical music meets POP and the final closing concert on Sunday, July 15th. Throughout the week, gathered choristers will perform final works from their workshops, and there will be performances by guest choirs.

Stay tuned for the official launch of the festival’s artistic program on Wednesday, April 25th.

*N.B. A fairly good working knowledge and comprehension of the French language is required to participate in Les Choralies.

To register, go to http://www.choraliesedmonton2012.ca/